FOP goes after Flores; Seeks contempt citation against councilman in probe of leaks

LORAIN -- The Lorain Fraternal Order of Police plans to push for a contempt citation against Lorain Councilman Dennis Flores after Flores failed to comply with a subpoena to appear before an arbitrator on Wednesday.

The subpoena issued by Arbitrator Nel Nelson requested that Flores "provide the provider of any cell phone or email account" that he owns or uses. Flores has been under fire by the FOP since he told a Cleveland newspaper reporter that he had received information electronically about internal investigations into officers Jeff Jackson and Ralph Gonzales.

The FOP filed a grievance against the city over the matter and took it to arbitration. Flores appeared before the arbitrator in January after which he was subpoenaed.

Flores's attorney, Mike Duff, sent a letter to the arbitrator Tuesday that stated that Flores would not comply with the subpoena unless he was compelled by a court order from Lorain County Common Pleas Court.

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"It is an invasion in to his right to privacy," Duff said. "If it was a city issued cell phone, I wouldn't have a problem with it."

FOP President Kyle Gelenius said the FOP and the police department seek records to find out how information on administrative and criminal investigations was leaked to the public. The release of information about an internal investigation also violates the FOP's contract with the city, Gelenius said.

Duff said Flores is an elected official and not bound by the FOP contract terms.

Knowing the sources of Flores' information could have helped with the investigations, said Buddy Sivert, a Lorain detective and FOP vice president.

Flores should have come to the police department with the information instead of going to the media, Sivert said.

Sivert said the leak could have compromised a criminal investigation into the theft of service weapons from Ralph Gonzales, who also was being investigated administratively before he retired.

"All we are trying to do is get information we thought could be dangerous," Sivert said.

Sivert said Flores has an oath as a councilman to uphold the law and by not appearing when he was subpoenaed he is violating that oath.

Now the FOP will ask for a hearing to push for a contempt citation, Gelenius said.

"We're going to have to be forced to pursue the matter in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas," Gelenius said.

He said that because Flores was interviewed and quoted in the media because of his status as a Lorain councilman, any personal communications he had relating to the investigation would count as public records.

Duff said the information does not constitute public record.

"I hear leaks and rumors all the time," Duff said. "That doesn't make my cell phone and computer accessible to the City of Lorain by way of subpoena."

Duff described the investigation as a witch hunt against an outspoken councilman who has been critical of the police administration, the city administration and the Lorain City Democratic Party.

"They're trying to make an example out of Dennis," he said.

Duff called the threat of a contempt citation a "scare tactic."

"Their arguments are not supported by Ohio law, so they aren't going to get anywhere with that," he said.

Lorain police also have asked the Lorain County Sheriff's Office to investigate whether Flores committed perjury in earlier statements to the arbitrator when Flores said he did not recall receiving any emails about the investigations, Gelenius said.

According to Gelenius, Flores said he found out about the information from a comment seven months ago on an unrelated story on The Morning Journal's website. The comment asked why the police department had not charged Jackson or Gonzales and briefly detailed some of the allegations against the pair.

When asked why the department is not attempting to subpoena that commenter for his or her source, Sivert said Flores is a councilman, not a private citizen like the commenter likely is, and that if Flores got the information from that comment he lied to the reporter when he said he had received emails and phone calls.

A newspaper likely would not have printed the information if Flores told them it was from a comment on a website, Sivert said.

"He either lied to the media and the emails don't exist, or he lied to the arbitrator," Sivert said.

The perjury investigation was originally handled by the Lorain Police Department, but Chief Cel Rivera asked the sheriff's office to look in to it because of the Lorain department's involvement in the case.

"We don't know exactly where it is at," Sivert said of the sheriff's investigation.

However, Chief Deputy Dennis Cavanaugh said Flores is not currently being investigated by the sheriff's office, and Cavanaugh is not aware of his office receiving any information about the case.

Duff said the statements made by Flores to the arbitrator would not constitute perjury.

"Any statement he made as to the source of his information is not a material statement," Duff said. "It is not material at all to what these officers are charged with."